I only got into the second paragraph of this before I started crying. I am apparently still traumatized by the Newtown shootings, in ways I don't expect. Because my daughter is the age of those children. Because I teach too, and can't imagine having to be responsible for my students' safety against an armed assailant. Because I see how young my daughter's teacher is, and I know she is a sweetheart and would try her best to protect my little girl, but how unfair and impossible it is, asking teachers to handle these incidents. This can't go on. And yet, it goes on, and on.
"We're adopting the A.L.I.C.E. approach to dealing with an armed gunman (an approach described in this NPR piece from last October). The acronym stands for Alert - Lockdown - Inform - Counter - Evacuate." Alert and Lockdown are what we have already been doing during drills; the alarm goes off, we gather all students in our rooms out of sightline of the door(s), lock the doors, pull down the window shades, turn out the lights, and sit there quietly in the dark until we get the all clear."
-- Go Ask A.L.I.C.E.
